Great summer movie, completely not what I expected!

Rating: 9/10 (9 July 2005)

I managed to see this tonight at a sneak preview. I had seen a trailer or two for it, and figured it would be a decent popcorn movie. After all, the cast looked wonderful, so it couldn't be bad, right?
Wow.
Completely NOT what I was expecting. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't... that. Which made it all that much better.
The movie has a decent plot, not too complicated, but thought provoking enough that it gives you something to think about afterwards. Sure, it's not that original, but now-a-days, what is? And it never stops. We were there for 2 hours, but it felt like 3. But not in an "OMG, is this ever going to end" way, but in a "OMG, they managed to pack so much in there" way. The movie never stops, and by the time you're out of there, it really does feel a lot longer than it was. But I would have happily seen more.
They do a good job with the ending though. It was a little clichéd, but not surprisingly so. I wish they had followed up with the impact after the climax... but that could be a movie into itself.
All in all, if you're looking for a good summer blockbuster, this is definitely one of them. It's not quite as good as Batman Begins, but then again, I'm not sure anything this summer will be. However, this definitely makes a case for second place.